Volunteer Program

Mount Tamalpais State Park Docent Program

Volunteer your time to assist visitors in appreciating and protecting this beautiful mountain!

If you enjoy spending time in nature, love local history or being outdoors, and you look forward to giving back to the community, promoting conservation and stewardship, as well as sharing knowledge with others, you are invited to join our volunteer team at Mount Tamalpais State Park!

Mount Tamalpais State Park Volunteers are part of the California State Parks Volunteer in the Park Program. They are trained by park staff and other state park volunteers in a variety of tasks that support projects and programs at Mount Tamalpais State Park (see below). State Park volunteers have to sign a duty statement and be fingerprinted.

If interested, contact our State Park Interpreter Hillary Colyer at Hillary.Colyer@parks.ca.gov

Here are some more details on the Volunteer activities:

Trail Crew Volunteers

Give back to the mountain by fixing trails and helping to remove non-native plant species!  The Trail Crew meets every third Tuesday of the month. Recruitment for Trail Crew volunteers is ongoing, but in order to become long term, trail volunteers will have to complete the Volunteer in the Parks Program Training, which is offered once/year, usually in late summer or early fall. 

Volunteer Trailcrew

 

Visitor Center/Gravity Car Barn Museum Docents
The Visitor Center and the Gravity Car Barn are often the places where visitors start their visit and get information about the mountain. VC/Museum Volunteers are trained to answer questions, and direct visitors to activities in the park that best meet their needs. With some interpretive training, VC/Museum Volunteers can also deliver short talks and demos about the cultural and natural resources of the mountain. Finally, VC/Museum volunteers help with items sales such as books, maps, or T-shirts, or help at special events – Mt Play, Sound Summit and others. Training for the Visitor Center/Museum is the first step in becoming a Docent. Training is generally offered once a year in late summer/early fall. Check with park staff about training dates.

Visitor Center Docent

 

Hike Docents (fitness and interpretive hikes)
Help Mt. Tamalpais State Park by doing the things you love most: hiking in the beautiful outdoors, while delivering a well-thought guided program to inspire and connect visitors to the natural and cultural resources of the park. But it is not just about hiking, it is about providing hospitality to and performing effective communication with the public. Training for leading guided walks and hikes is challenging. It is the second step in the Docent training. It is generally offered once a year in late fall/early winter. Check with park staff about training dates.

Hike Docent and her group on top of West Peak!

 

All Volunteers get perks!

  • Mount Tamalpais State Park Volunteers who give 40 hours/year or more receive a Bay Area District State Parks annual parking pass! Parks include: Tomales Bay, Olompali SHP, China Camp, Samuel P. Taylor,  Mt Tamalpais, Candlestick, Petaluma Adobe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, Sugarloaf, and Annadel.
  • State Park volunteers who give 200 hours or more a year receive a free annual parking pass for all California state parks.
  • we have a Docent Enrichment Program in the form of lectures or fieldtrips so that you can continue learning about cultural heritage, natural history, and interpretation!